GREEN BAY, Wis. – It will be up to Ben Sirmans to get Eddie Lacy back on track and Brian Angelichio to get more out of the Green Bay Packers tight ends.
They’re among the newest additions to coach Mike McCarthy’s staff.
Sirmans replaces running backs coach Sam Gash, while Angelichio takes over for Jerry Fontenot. McCarthy fired both Gash and Fontenot just three days after the Packers lost to the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC divisional playoff round on Jan. 16. Sirmans and Angelichio were with the Packers staff at last month's Pro Bowl, but their hiring wasn't announced until McCarthy revealed his entire coaching staff structure on Wednesday.
McCarthy also decided to split quarterbacks and receivers among two coaches after giving Alex Van Pelt both last season. Van Pelt will remain in charge of Aaron Rodgers & Co., while Luke Getsy was promoted to coach receivers. The 32-year-old Getsy spent the previous two seasons as the Packers’ quality control offensive assistant. Last season, he worked closely with Van Pelt in the quarterbacks/receivers room.
Sirmans spent the previous four years with the St. Louis Rams, but was fired shortly after the season despite his work with rookie running back Todd Gurley, who rushed for 1,106 yards in 13 games. His charge will be to get more out of Lacy and help get him back in shape. After consecutive 1,100-yard seasons, Lacy showed up for his third season overweight. He battled injuries, missed a curfew on the eve of the Dec. 3 game at Detroit and managed 758 yards in 15 regular-season games.
Shortly after the season, McCarthy called out Lacy for being overweight.
Angelichio spent the last two seasons as the Cleveland Browns tight ends coach. Under Angelichio, tight end Gary Barnidge was the Browns’ leading receiver last season with 79 catches for 1,043 yards and nine touchdowns.
Tight end is one of the Packers’ greatest needs this offseason. Richard Rodgers caught 58 passes and eight touchdowns but averaged just 8.8 yards per catch – 28th among tight ends in 2015. The rest of their tight ends combined for just 11 catches for 133 yards and one touchdown.
Former coaching administrator David Raih replaced Mike Solari as the assistant offensive line coach. Solari left after one season to coach the New York Giants offensive line.
The other new hire was Ejiro Evero, who replaces John Rushing as quality control defensive assistant.
Tom Clements, who was stripped of play-calling duties after 12 games last season, remains on the staff and with the same title (associate head coach/offense) he was given when McCarthy gave the former offensive coordinator play-calling duties last offseason.
Here's McCarthy's full coaching staff for 2016:
Offense
Tom Clements, associate head coach
Edgar Bennett, offensive coordinator
Brian Angelichio, tight ends
James Campen, offensive line
Luke Getsy, receivers
David Raih, assistant offensive line
Ben Sirmans, running backs
Alex Van Pelt, quarterbacks
Defense
Winston Moss, associate head coach, linebackers
Dom Capers, defensive coordinator
Ejiro Evero, defensive quality control
Scott McCurley, assistant linebackers
Jerry Montgomery, defensive front assistant
Darren Perry, safeties
Mike Trgovac, defensive line
Joe Whitt Jr., cornerbacks
Special Teams
Ron Zook, special teams coordinator
Jason Simmons, assistant
Strength and conditioning
Mark Lovat. strength and conditioning coordinator
Chris Gizzi, strength and conditioning assistant
Thadeus Jackson, strength and conditioning assistant
Grant Thorne, strength and conditioning assistant